Interactive advertisement driving transaction of an advertised digital content displayed during online playing of a content

ABSTRACT

Delivering and presenting content including an interactive advertisement to a user, including: transmitting the content including the interactive advertisement to an entertainment device through an application, wherein the application is registered under a user account with an app store; playing the interactive advertisement including call-to-action icons to request the user to initiate a transaction for purchasing an item of second content; determining whether the user is requesting an immediate or later purchase; charging for the purchased item of second content to the user account and initiating a background download of the purchased item of second content, when it is determined that the user is requesting the immediate purchase; adding the item of content to the user account, when it is determined that the user is requesting the later purchase; and resuming the transmission of the content.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional application of co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/457,811, filed Mar. 13, 2017 (now U.S.Pat. No. 11,599,902). The disclosure of the above-referenced applicationis incorporated in its entirety herein.

BACKGROUND Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to interactive advertisement, and morespecifically, to interactive advertisement driving transactions on anelectronic store.

Background

Content may be consumed by a user using many different hardwareplatforms and in many different formats. Also, the content may bedelivered to the user using many different delivery mechanisms. Thecontent may include advertisements, which can be placed before (i.e.,pre-roll), after (i.e., post-roll) or in the middle (i.e., mid-roll) ofthe content. Further, the advertisements may be interactiveadvertisements.

In most cases, a good interactive advertisement needs to benon-disruptive to the consumption of the content itself. However,creating a non-disruptive but good interactive advertisement is achallenge, especially for pre-roll or mid-roll advertisements.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides for delivering and presenting contentincluding an interactive advertisement to a user.

In one implementation, a method for delivering and presenting contentincluding an interactive advertisement to a user is disclosed. Themethod includes: transmitting the content including the interactiveadvertisement to an entertainment device through an application, whereinthe application is registered under a user account with an app store;playing the interactive advertisement including call-to-action icons torequest the user to initiate a transaction for purchasing an item ofsecond content; determining whether the user is requesting an immediateor later purchase; charging for the purchased item of second content tothe user account and initiating a background download of the purchaseditem of second content, when it is determined that the user isrequesting the immediate purchase; adding the item of content to theuser account, when it is determined that the user is requesting thelater purchase; and resuming the transmission of the content.

In another implementation, a system is disclosed. The system includes:an entertainment device configured to download and play content forviewing by a user; an online content distributor configured to deliverand present the content including an interactive advertisement to theentertainment device through an application, wherein the user obtainsthe application through the app store and installs the application onthe entertainment device, wherein the application is registered under auser account with the app store such that an item of second content canbe purchased and downloaded in a background mode while the content ispresented to the user in a foreground mode.

In a further implementation, an apparatus for delivering and presentingcontent including an interactive advertisement to a user is disclosed.The apparatus includes: means for transmitting the content including theinteractive advertisement through an application, wherein theapplication is registered under a user account with an app store; meansfor playing the interactive advertisement including call-to-action iconsto request the user to initiate a transaction for purchasing an item ofsecond content; means for determining whether the user is requesting animmediate or later purchase; means for charging for the purchased itemof second content to the user account and initiating a backgrounddownload of the purchased item of second content, when it is determinedthat the user is requesting the immediate purchase; means for adding theitem of content to the user account, when it is determined that the useris requesting the later purchase; and means for resuming thetransmission of the content.

Other features and advantages should be apparent from the presentdescription which illustrates, by way of example, aspects of thedisclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The details of the present disclosure, both as to its structure andoperation, may be gleaned in part by study of the appended drawings, inwhich like reference numerals refer to like parts, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an entertainment system in accordance withone implementation of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for the interactiveadvertisement unit to deliver and present the interactive advertisementto the user in accordance with one implementation of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 shows one example of the content being played on theentertainment console or device;

FIG. 4 shows one example of the delivered interactive advertisementbeing played on the entertainment console or device;

FIG. 5 shows one example of the CTA icons being displayed while theinteractive advertisement is playing;

FIG. 6 shows one example of the later purchase, which results in theitem of content being added to the registered account of the user, andthe content consumption resumes; and

FIG. 7 shows one example of the immediate purchase, which results in theitem of content being downloaded in the background, and the contentconsumption resumes in the foreground.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As described above, creating a non-disruptive but good interactiveadvertisement is a challenge, especially for pre-roll or mid-rolladvertisements. Conventional solutions may allow clicking on the item(s)within the content display to select and store the item for latertransaction. Thus, once the consumption of the content is finished, theuser may recall and process the stored transaction. However, processingthe stored transaction is not simple and may frustrate the user enoughto abandon the transaction.

Certain implementations of the present disclosure provide alternativesolutions for delivering and presenting the interactive advertisement insuch a way as to take advantage of the connection/interaction betweenthe entertainment console or device on which the user is consuming thecontent and the application store to which the entertainment console ordevice is registered and connected. After reading these descriptions, itwill become apparent how to implement the disclosure in variousimplementations and applications. However, although variousimplementations of the present disclosure will be described herein, itis understood that these implementations are presented by way of exampleonly, and not limitation. As such, this detailed description of variousimplementations should not be construed to limit the scope or breadth ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an entertainment system 100 in accordancewith one implementation of the present disclosure. In the illustratedimplementation of FIG. 1 , the system 100 includes an online contentdistributor 110, an entertainment console or device 120, and an appstore 130 to which the entertainment console or device 120 is registeredand connected. In one implementation, the online content distributor 110includes an interactive advertisement unit 112. In one implementation,the entertainment console or device 120 includes a game console such asPlayStation®. In another implementation, the entertainment console ordevice 120 includes a mobile device such as a smartphone.

In one implementation of the entertainment system 100, a user 140 isconsuming the content being played on the entertainment console ordevice 120. The user 140 installs an application 122 on theentertainment console or device 120, which allows the user 140 toconsume the content streamed or downloaded from the online contentdistributor 110. In one implementation, the content is a movie, TV show,or sporting event. In another implementation, the content is a game.

The application 122 is supplied by the online content distributor 110through the app store 130. Since the application 122 is obtained throughthe app store 130, there is a connection between the application 122 andthe app store 130, wherein the application 122 will be able to transactwith the app store 130 regarding a registered account of the user 140 atthe app store 130.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram 200 illustrating a process for the interactiveadvertisement unit 112 to deliver and present the interactiveadvertisement to the user 140 in accordance with one implementation ofthe present disclosure. In this implementation, the interactiveadvertisement is delivered and presented in such a way as to takeadvantage of the connection between the application 122 on theentertainment console or device 120 and the app store 130.

In the illustrated implementation of FIG. 2 , the online contentdistributor 110 enables the user 140, at block 210, to obtain andinstall (on the entertainment console or device 120) the application 122through the app store 130. The user 140 launches the application 122installed on the entertainment console or device 120 and consumes thecontent. FIG. 3 shows one example of the content being played on theentertainment console or device 120.

During the pre-roll or mid-roll of the content, at block 220, aninteractive advertisement (advertising, for example, an item of content)delivered by the interactive advertisement unit 112 is played on theentertainment console or device 120. FIG. 4 shows one example of thedelivered interactive advertisement being played on the entertainmentconsole or device 120.

Call-to-action (CTA) icons are displayed, at block 230, to request theuser to initiate a transaction for purchasing and obtaining the item. Inone implementations, the CTA icons are clickable icons. In anotherimplementation, the CTA icons are created as visible but unobstructiveicons such as transparent icons overlaid on top of the interactiveadvertisement. In yet another implementation, the CTA icons are createdas other display items such as dialog boxes. FIG. 5 shows one example ofthe CTA icons 500, 502 being displayed while the interactiveadvertisement is playing.

In one implementation, the item of content to be obtained is a movie, TVshow, or sporting event. In another implementation, the content is agame. In other implementations, the CTA icons provide selections otherthan just the options to purchase now or later. For example, the CTAicons may provide additional selections such as options to decline thepurchase or view other interactive advertisements.

A determination is then made, at block 240, whether the transaction isfor the immediate purchase of the item or for adding the item to a cartfor later purchase. If it is determined, at block 240, that thetransaction is for the later purchase, the item of content isautomatically added to the registered account of the user 140 at the appstore 130, at block 250. FIG. 6 shows one example of the later purchase,which results in the item of content being added to the registeredaccount of the user 140 (e.g., the item being added to the cart), andthe content consumption resumes.

However, if it is determined, at block 240, that the transaction is forthe immediate purchase, the user 140 is requested to confirm theimmediate purchase, at block 260. Once the confirmation is received fromthe user 140, the price of the purchased item is charged, at block 270,to the registered account of the user 140 at the app store 130. Thebackground download of the item from the online content distributor 110is then initiated, at block 280. Once the transaction is finished, theconsumption of the content on the entertainment console or device 120 isresumed, at block 290, while the background download of the item ofsecond content is running. FIG. 7 shows one example of the immediatepurchase, which results in the item of content being downloaded in thebackground, and the content consumption resumes in the foreground.

Additional variations and implementations are also possible. Forexample, the item of content can be data for various types of content orother data, such as movies, television, video, music, audio, games,scientific data, medical data, etc. Accordingly, the specific examplesdiscussed herein are not the only implementations within the scope ofthe new technology.

One implementation includes one or more programmable processors andcorresponding computer system components to store and execute computerinstructions, such as to deliver and present the interactiveadvertisement to the user in such a way as to take advantage of theconnection between the application and the app store.

The above description of the disclosed implementations is provided toenable any person skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure.Various modifications to these implementations will be readily apparentto those skilled in the art, and the generic principles described hereincan be applied to other implementations without departing from thespirit or scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the techniques are notlimited to the specific examples described above. Thus, it is to beunderstood that the description and drawings presented herein representa presently possible implementation of the disclosure and are thereforerepresentative of the subject matter that is broadly contemplated by thepresent disclosure. It is further understood that the scope of thepresent disclosure fully encompasses other implementations that maybecome obvious to those skilled in the art and that the scope of thepresent disclosure is accordingly limited by nothing other than theappended claims.

1.-9. (canceled)
 10. A system comprising: an entertainment deviceconfigured to download and play content for viewing by a user; an appstore coupled to the entertainment device; and an online contentdistributor configured to deliver and present the content including aninteractive advertisement to the entertainment device through anapplication, wherein the user obtains the application through the appstore and installs the application on the entertainment device, whereinthe application is registered under a user account with the app storesuch that an item of second content can be purchased and downloaded in abackground mode while the content is presented to the user in aforeground mode.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the entertainmentdevice is registered with the app store.
 12. The system of claim 10,wherein the entertainment device comprises a mobile device.
 13. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the item of second content comprises one ofa movie, TV show, sporting event, or game.
 14. The system of claim 10,wherein the online content distributor comprises an interactiveadvertisement unit configured to deliver and present the interactiveadvertisement on the entertainment device.
 15. The system of claim 14,wherein the interactive advertisement includes call-to-action icons torequest the user to initiate a transaction for purchasing an item ofsecond content.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the call-to-actionicons are transparent icons overlaid on top of the interactiveadvertisement. 17.-20. (canceled)